Page 85 of Break

I think I’m losing my mind. “No. That… that doesn’t make any sense. My mother said she paid some guy an exorbitant amount of money to have it all erased.”

“She lied.”

The air whooshes out of me. “Why would she lie to me about that?”

“Probably because you wouldn’t have believed the truth,” Kerrington says, and it’s such a blow to my belly. He’s right. I would never haveexpected them to save my ass like that, nor would I have accepted their help.

I had to hit rock bottom to come back to them.

Oh god. They waited for me. I ran away, cut them out, and they still waited for me. They took care of me even when I couldn’t see it, didn’t know, and didn’t ask.

Hot tears burn my eyes. “I don’t deserve you.”

“Shh.” Kerrington pulls me into his chest again and wraps his strong arms around me.

A million questions soar through my foggy brain. I’ve dragged them into my shitshow, regardless of how much energy, time, and money I’ve spent trying to keep them out of it.

“Stop paying him,” Kerrington orders.

“No! We’ll be dragged online. Shunned from our society.”

“So what?” Landon huffs next to me. “We don’t give a flying fuck about anyone who’s not in our immediate family.”

“Mason,” Kerrington counts on his fingers. “Leah, you. Our family is chosen, and small, and perfect as is. We’ve never given a shit about what others think of us. You know that, Nicole.”

My heart swells. “I didn’t think you thought of me in your circle like that.”

Kerr’s hands fall to my side. “Of course we do. We invite you to everything.”

“I figured it was out of pity.”

“Does this look like pity to you?” Landon growls. “Does anything we’ve done with you look pitiful, Nicole?”

Biting my lip, I shake my head. Oh my god, I love them so much.

“What’s it look like then?” Landon’s tone stays stern. “Come on. Tell us.”

“Love.”

“That’s right, sweetheart.” He kisses my forehead.

Kerrington brings us back to the real problem. “You can’t pay this guy off forever, Nicole.”

“Of course I can.”

“And when he ups the amount?” he asks. “What then?”

He’s already done that, not that I’ll admit it. “I’ll figure it out.”

“We.” Landon stresses. “Wewill figure it out.”

They smother me with their big bodies, and good scents, and masculine energy. “I didn’t want you to be sucked into my drama.”

“Baby, we’ll get sucked into anything you’re a part of. Happily.”

“It’s what you do when you love someone, Nicole. You take the good and the bad.”

“The ugly and the beautiful,” Kerrington says.

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